Auroracoin Virtual Currency Launched In Iceland

Iceland is not exactly a model country for a booming economy, but you can more or less say that it has gotten a wee bit richer on Tuesday, in terms of its cyberspace presence, thanks to the launch of a virtual currency known as Auroracoin. It is hoped that this virtual currency might eventually replace the crown by circumventing the island’s capital controls, although it will be a long, rocky and winding road ahead of it.

Baldur Friggjar Odinsson claimed that the Auroracoin intends to free Icelanders from their “financial prison.” Hopefully Odinsson will be able to see his dream come true in this lifetime, as Iceland continues to mull over whether to take up the Euro or the Canadian dollar as their currency of choice, or to continue living it out with the crown that has lost over half its value during the financial system collapse in 2008. So far, it took mere hours after the Auroracoin’s launch to show that approximately 127,650 of the coins had been claimed out of 10.5 million that will be distributed electronically over the course of an entire whole year.

Virtual exchange websites Crypto-Currency Market Capitalizations and BitInfoCharts have placed a value of $11.41 and $10.46, respectively, on a single Auroracoin, although it remains to be seen just how and where will Auroracoin holders spend this currency.